And Then There's That Colossal National Debt

December 12, 1995

Even if the federal budget were balanced tomorrow, the U.S. would still be in hock to the tune of $5 trillion. And regardless of which budget plan is adopted, taxpayers will be faced with an additional $1 trillion in debt over the next five years - all of which must somehow, someday be paid off.

Those who own a piece of the debt in the form of U.S. debt instruments include banks, insurance companies, pension plans, mutual funds, foreign governments and individual savers.

It is not true that nations cannot go bankrupt; Brazil, Argentina and Israel have all at one time or another hung by their fingernails at the bankruptcy precipice.

Nor is the industrialized first world immune, since Britain effectively declared bankruptcy in 1976.